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The Most Common Cannabis Compliance Issues

by Travis C | Jul 1, 2021 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Hemp Law, Legalization, Medical Marijuana

Operating in a legal cannabis industry, whether recreational or medical, comes with strict regulations that requires compliance for businesses. Underestimating the level of cannabis compliance has led to the downfall of many new cannabis businesses.

Cannabis compliance is more than just meeting required plant counts or ensuring safe working conditions for employees. Every industry is regulated in some form, however the cannabis industry lacks any form of federal regulations.

Without any federal oversight, states are left to create their own regulations and cannabis compliance requirements. These requirements vary widely by state, making operating in multiple states more challenging.

There are some common cannabis compliance requirements that any business owner will have dealt with at some point. However there are others that a new business owner may overlook. This can have drastic consequences, such as removal of an operating license, extreme fines, or even being shut down completely.

Licensing

Cannabis licensing is typically the first step any would-be business owner takes. Each state varies in how they handle licensing, from application fees and financial requirements to how many total licenses are given out.

Pricing alone is large barrier to entry for many, with some states like California charging higher and higher license fees the larger a business’ revenue. Others may just charge a flat fee for all licenses, but the fee is also high, and recurs annually.

Common licenses include manufacturing, retail, dispensary, and cultivation. Cannabis businesses need to know what’s required in their state and when to get their licenses and permits renewed. Having an expired or illegitimate license or permit can result in hefty fines and a risk of closure.

It isn’t just the business that has to be licensed either in many states. Employees are typically also required to have specific licensing to work in a cannabis business.

Cultivation

From plant limits to seed to sale tracking, every state can implement different cannabis compliance requirements for cultivation facilities and farms. This can include mandatory reporting of water usage and run-off, pesticide restrictions, limited employees permitted in the grow, and tracking such as METRC.

Justin Jones from Greener Consulting Group opened the first recreational cannabis dispensary in Denver, Colorado. He was also one of the first growers in the country to implement METRC tracking in his grow.

In the past, growers just grew. Today’s growers need real management skills in the highly regulated legal markets and just as much time is spent meeting compliance requirements as is spent growing the plants themselves. It is a complete turn around from the past. Programs like METRC that were resisted at first, have now become tools for improving your business and collecting data on production, potency, testing and more.

Justin Jones

There is no worse feeling for a grower than going through an entire season and having it thrown out or being fined an exorbitant amount for failing to adhere to cultivation compliance requirements.

Cannabis Testing

Testing requirements for cannabis cultivators and processors has been a hot button issue in the legal cannabis industry. Due to lack to federal regulation there is no federal guidance or requirements for cannabis products, again leaving the decision to the states.

While every state will have testing requirements in order to prove the potency and safety of cannabis products, the requirements can vary and the labs that do the testing can vary as well. One lab might only test for cannabinoids, while another may test for terpenes and heavy metals as well.

The majority of the time, these labs are not state-run either, which can lead to some shady business transactions between labs trying to make some money and a grower who wants their harvest to pass. Real Dirt host and Greener Consulting Group founder Chip Baker has plenty of experience dealing with cannabis testing in a variety of states.

He knows first hand how difficult it can be to find an affordable and reliable testing facility for a wide range of cannabis products.

Keeping up with the different testing regulations throughout the US is pretty much an impossible task. Every state is similar but different. Every lab is similar but different. Every state has different microbial and pesticide determinations. Some are lax and others are bordering on impossible to follow. You really have to be careful about the products you use on a plant. One day it could be legal and the next day not, literally. There needs to be a standardization of COAs (certificate of authenticity).

Chip Baker

Real Estate Cannabis Compliance

Real estate and zoning for cannabis businesses is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome. Not only do states create their own zoning requirements for cannabis businesses (e.g. distance from schools, parks, etc.), land owners can restrict cannabis businesses on their land as well.

Additionally, local governments and neighborhood groups who lobby them can also implement more restrictions. Cannabis businesses often face special zoning restrictions including security, lighting, crowd control, delivery traffic, parking, and drainage.

It can be a very time consuming process planning out a building design to meet the various strict requirements set by state and local governments. In turn, cannabis compliance in real estate can become more difficult dependent on the state.

Security and Surveillance

Any potential cannabis business owner will implement some form of security and surveillance out of necessity. So while it isn’t an aspect of cannabis compliance that is likely to slip the mind, states can still set specific requirements for security and surveillance that must be met.

These requirements will almost always include cameras and some sort of ID verification at the entrance. Other requirements may be hired security at the entrance, alarm systems, and even security patrols at cannabis cultivation facilities. Luckily security is something most cannabis business owners take very seriously, which makes cannabis compliance in this regard rather easy.

However like other state requirements placed on cannabis businesses, the costs of meeting security requirements can prevent smaller businesses from complying.

Sales and Reporting

Beside the age limit placed on medical and recreational cannabis purchases, states can add additional requirements when it comes to reporting. States may require an up to date record of inventory at all times, seed to sale tracking, purchase limits for consumers and more.

It isn’t uncommon for a cannabis business to try and skirt cannabis compliance in some of these aspects, and some have paid the price for it. Sales and reporting is a major aspect of cannabis compliance that will vary by state, and should be taken seriously.

More cannabis compliance requirements

The requirements listed above may be some of the most important for any cannabis business owner, but cannabis compliance is more broad than just a few key aspects.

Taxes, consumer privacy, employee hiring and practices, health and safety are just a few more that should never be overlooked, and can vary by state. If a cannabis business operates in a state with delivery options, that adds a whole new tier of cannabis compliance that must be met as well.

Similar to any business in any industry, the larger you are the more it costs to operate. The larger you are, more difficult it will be to maintain compliance in an ever changing industry with regulatory updates happening frequently.

Owning a business is no easy task. However owning a cannabis business is a challenge many won’t be able to handle.

Los Angeles cannabis permit problems

by Travis C | Mar 1, 2019 | 420, 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Growing

California had the right idea when they legalized cannabis in 2017. But with incredible delays, lack of resources and a surplus of entrepreneurs hoping to make a name for themselves in the industry, the state and cities like Los Angeles are struggling.

Over four million people live in the city of Los Angeles. It’s no surprise then, that the inhabitants would try to work in the new legal system. But it hasn’t been as simple, or profitable, as originally projected.

California is the biggest state in the country, as well as the largest supplier of cannabis. When the state legalized, it virtually leveled the main supplier in the state; the private market.

Unprepared, Understaffed, Overwhelmed

While strict requirements, exorbitant application fees and an originally-one-man advisory board made the legal industry all but unattainable for smaller growers and farms in the state, the process was made much simpler for retailers. Medical retailers, that is.

In Los Angeles, priority was given to owners of retail medical dispensaries in the application process. Since they already had the location, the storefront and the brand, all that was needed was a transition to the new regulatory requirements for recreational cannabis.

Second in line for application review came those that legally supplied the medical cannabis to the dispensaries in Los Angeles. It makes sense because once the retail locations are transitioned to recreational, they can continue to use the same growers and suppliers, maintaining their business relationships in the new, legal industry, with minimal delay. At least, that’s how it went on paper.

In reality, the situation isn’t going so smoothly. In February of 2018, the city gave out about 180 temporary permits to allow medical dispensaries to operate recreationally. For the growers and suppliers, the same was to be done by April. Those temporary permits weren’t issued until the end of August.

This shouldn’t be surprising considering the total lack of manpower the Department of Cannabis Regulation had then and now. The directory board of the department started with just one member. Now, over a year since legalization, there are only 13 members on the board. Now imagine those 13 people handling every single application process for the hundreds of retailers, growers and processors.

The picture starts to become pretty clear. As if the city didn’t have enough on its plate, it also included a social equity program in its local laws, aimed at helping repair some of the damage done by the war on drugs.

Los Angeles Social Equity Program

This is where the state of California and the city of Los Angeles could have set a great precedent for new and current legal industries. The city established a social equity program that would give priority to those most negatively affected by the drug war prior to legalization.

People of color in the city were disproportionately arrested for small drug crimes involving cannabis compared to their white counterparts, despite statistical data showing no difference in cannabis use between the two groups. This group and other minority groups negatively impacted by the drug war were meant to be some of the first allowed into the new, legal industry.

Unfortunately that isn’t how it has worked out for Los Angeles. While the social equity program gave priority to these minority groups, the Department of Cannabis Regulation gave higher priority to already-established medical retailers, growers and processors. And with the — to put it mildly — severe lag of the application process, these groups still haven’t had one single approval.

Mind you these are people who do not currently have a business, and want to open one in the recreational market. Many leapt for storefront dispensary locations, despite the low availability. Los Angeles put a cap on how many storefronts can be opened in a neighborhood, in addition to strict requirements for location (e.g. can’t be near schools, other dispensaries, public parks), greatly limiting the options for would-be entrepreneurs.

When it comes to timeframes, the city hasn’t been shy on the issue either;

“Bringing cannabis above ground is an incredibly complex process, and L.A. is doing it on an unprecedented scale,” Alex Comisar, a spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti, said in a statement. “Our goal is to do this the right way, not the quick way or the easy way — and we’ve always been very clear about that.”

It’s a rough road ahead

Los Angeles is way behind schedule. It’s a fact. And the local government isn’t doing much to speed up the process. The Department of Cannabis Regulation currently sits at 13 members. Multiple additional position have been filed, but due to the slow city hiring process, anyone new has yet to be hired.

The head of the city council Herb Wesson insists that everything will basically sort itself out. Even with reports of many potential entrepreneurs leaving the city to open up shop elsewhere, Wesson isn’t fazed. “I have no time for folks that want to go somewhere else. Let ’em.”

Instead, as months have passed, industry groups and consultants have complained that many cannabis entrepreneurs are stuck paying steep prices for multiyear leases, after landlords hiked prices on eligible storefronts.

“You had a lot of people who followed the city’s guidance and signed leases,” paying upwards of $10,000 a month in rent, said Larry Mondragon, vice president of zoning and entitlements for Craig Fry & Associates, a consulting firm helping cannabis businesses. “People are holding onto leases, paying exorbitant checks, not even knowing when they’re able to turn in applications to the city.”

Equity applicants are supposed to get a helping hand from the city through “business, licensing and compliance assistance.” But more than a year after recreational cannabis sales became legal, there are no city programs providing such aid.

So far, the only funding the city has approved for social equity is $250,000 for a fee deferral program. Department officials say they now are seeking more than $4 million for the program, hoping to roll out support services, such as business development training, no sooner than July.

Los Angeles needs to step up. California needs to step up. There are a lot of problems in the state with little to no solutions. Something needs to be done at the city level to change that. How, and even if that will be done, is still unknown.